“I’ve had this random single-serving packet of matcha that I got in some trade or other kicking around in my cupboard for awhile. I eventually figured out, based on the pictures, that this...”
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From Rishi Tea

Matcha was first used by Zen monks more than 800 years ago to promote a calm state of alertness and focus during extended meditation sessions. Matcha became an integral part of Japanese culture and is the traditional green tea used in the Japanese tea ceremony.
All Natural & Antioxidant Rich
222mg polyphenols per serving!

To Your Health
Matcha is 100% pure green tea without the added extracts, colorants, sweeteners or flavoring agents found in most instant tea products. One serving of Matcha delivers the antioxidant value of more than 3 cups of common green tea. Matcha also contains L-theanine, an amino acid found only in tea that is known to counteract the “buzz” from caffeine by calming the central nervous system. L-theanine’s natural anti-stress action is anti-depressant and non-sedating. Regular consumption of Matcha promotes creativity, a calm state of alertness and increased energy without the caffeine crash associated with coffee.

Brewed Tea
Regular brewed tea yields only 30% of the total nutritional elements found in tea. The remaining 70% will be thrown away in the spent leaves.

Matcha
Matcha imparts 100% of the nutritional elements that tea offers because the entire tea leaf can be consumed. One serving of Matcha can be prepared in seconds with hot or cold water.

The majority of our teas are organic and Fair Trade Certified. In 2009, we won 11 First Place Awards for Best Tea, almost double that of any competitor. Tea is our passion, it’s what we do best. We’re honored to share some of our favorite teas with you.

9 Tasting Notes

I am new here to this site but not new to preparing tea. I absolutely LOVE Rishi Tea Matcha, 100% Premium Tea Powder it has all the attributes I look for in Matcha; it has the grassy, vegetal undertone preceded by a fine-bubbled, creamy, rich foamy, sweetness; the color is a rich saturated Jade green and the aroma is of fresh spinach with a little grass and a little hay.

I highly recommend this Maccha!

Preparation

Maccha? This matcha is amazing- it was my 1st. But, except for purchasing it maybe once to prepare myself since I’ve had it prepared by someone else, I’m not gonna bother buying it because A.) I prefer to prepare my matcha authentically and the packaging isn’t in line w/ that mindset B.) For the 90 miles it needs to travel to get to me, the shipping is too expensive and it takes too long buying it online- although my local tea shop has it for only $1 more (plus tax) than the website charges so I can avoid shipping. and C.) It’s pretty expensive for the amount even before factoring in shipping. But if you don’t care about the packaging and don’t need to be concerned w/ economical value (darn my limited income), it’s AMAZING.

YES, I do agree on the pricing point, in-fact, I e-mailed Rishi telling them my concerns about price but they only had a typical generic answer…nothing really to change it any; now about the packaging, again, yes, scooping it out with a chasaku, then whisking it with a chasen in a matchawan is the most pleasurable tasks of preparing matcha, however, if you can get past the packaging, it is THEBESTTASTING matcha I have ever had to date…I LOVE IT! I did splurge and bought a case so that I didn’t run out too quickly; I drink it quite often, 2-3 times a day.

lol… see… I can’t get past the packaging. I’m even going to take my tin w/ me when I go on vacations. But that’s just me though and I’m glad you can get past it. I’ve loved every single one of the matchas I’ve tried so I’m ok w/ passing on this one.

That’s my goal as well…I have a box/chest full of 30g tins of matcha that I want to get to…my recent is from Takashimya/Irokuen and DoMatcha. But I love matcha and powdered Sencha since you ingest the whole leaf rather than just the runoff. You get all the benefits of the whole leaf if you drink matcha and powdered Sencha…but I like matcha way better.

Drink up! Matcha doesn’t stay fresh nearly as long as whole leaf. I tried powdered sencha from Den’s Tea because it was 15% off last month. Pretty good. I negate their preparation suggestions and prepare it just as I would matcha.

I swear we are on the same wavelength because I got in on the deal at Den’s Tea as well, I bought four pouches. It’s funny, I prepare some then use that as my water for preparing matcha. BOY, DO I WAKE UP AFTERDRINKINGTHAT!…lol

Actually I had mine about 2 hrs ago. I was talking about powdered sencha and then you said “I got in on the deal at Den’s Tea as well, I bought four pouches. It’s funny, I prepare some then use that as my water for preparing matcha.” Since the Den’s Tea deal was powdered sencha, I naturally thought that’s what you meant since you said no different.

I was given one of those on-the-go sort of things too in a swap once. My experience was pretty close to yours. It was just… green tea. Nothing special about it. I’m expecting, that when I do get to try it properly, there will be an enormous revelation, but I’m not really holding my breath.

Haha! Yep. That’s exactly what mom says- split pea soup. How do you steep and strain matcha? If done properly, it should ve a very smooth texture- no floaties. Grainy/chalky at worse. How much water did you use? Unfortunately Rishi only has “packet-on-the-go” type.

Ah ok… yeah after I asked that I was wondering if I was confusion steeping for decanting- you said “steeping” so I normally associate decanting w/ steeping lol. I’ve never made this myself but I’d use 3-8oz. I emailed the cafe I had this at and asked what ratio they used.

Yeah…I prob shouldn’t have used that phrase…sometimes I just say “Steep and Strain” it’s just because I like the way it rolls off the tongue, which in fast, I’m not really steeping!!! LOL – So…technically, I’m mis-speaking…bwahhhhhh!

I think I sent this to you. Those packets are pretty crazy. Rishi also suggests pouring a packet into a bottle of water and shaking it up for “iced tea”. I can’t imagine that it would be very good. This isn’t something I would ever buy from them again.

MY 1st EXPERIENCE W/ MATCHA! I had this at a new cafe my mom and I tried for dinner last nite… AMAZING! light and a touch grassy topped w/ a light froth that did not collapse when my lips touched it much like cappuccino or beer foam does. There was a little bit of delicious grassy sludge as I lovingly called it that I washed down w/ just an extra spash of water. Lovely. My new addiction.

I’ve been curious about matcha for a while. Just a bit deterred by all the equipment I would need to get along with it. If I were to try something with as much tradition and ceremony attached to it, I’d want to do it right.
I’ll have to get around to it one of these days. You’ve made me mighty curious. (Hey, brainwave! I could put the lot on my christmas wishlist!)

@ Jillian: Only in Copenhagen Airport as far as I know. We have a chain called Baresso which is up the same alley, but they’re very focused on coffee. They have only a few mainstream teas, and I’ve seen how they make those. Let’s just say that while I like their coffee drinks, even if they did have a matcha I’m too snobby to drink their teas.

@ Cofftea: The teamap only covers North America and the UK, so that would still require a wee bit of travelling. Good suggestion though.

I’ve had this random single-serving packet of matcha that I got in some trade or other kicking around in my cupboard for awhile. I eventually figured out, based on the pictures, that this came from Rishi so I followed their hot matcha preparation recipe on their website which called for using 4-5 oz of 75°C water per packet of tea.

Let me say right away that this makes for a very concentrated cup of matcha. It was so bitter and grassy that I added a bunch of water after the fact. So in the end it was probably more like 6+ oz of water. Even with the extra water the tea in my bowl still looked murky and thick – I did manage to get it to froth up nicely even with my dinky little metal wisk, which thrilled me. But it kept its harsh, grassy flavour which made drinking it feel more like eating broccoli or something else that you know is ‘good for you’ but that you’re not really thrilled to be eating. Despite all my wisking it also left quite a lot of gritty residue at the bottom of the bowl which made the last few sips kind of nasty.

I find I’m not really impressed with Rishi’s take on this classic Japanese tea – I’ve cerainly had much better plain matcha prepared for me when I was in Vancouver. This matcha is better off used to make lattes or mixed into smoothies, in my opinion, rather than prepared the traditional way.

I wasn’t able to write what I drank yestserday! I had a huge water bottle full of this – about 24oz. I love how quick it is to make since I was in a rush out this morning. I thought that using a lot of water with the matcha tasted better than using a little. Its very creamy and rich with almost a fishy scent. I’m not sure if I’m using the right words to describe it, but it was delicious!